The Strategy
A full frontal attract strategy is a grab for market share. In the computer market, this is done through differentiation, by adding value to any sales proposition. The current strategy looks to do this on a number of fronts; celebrity endorsement, superior product composition / positioning strategy & an additional component 'sweetner'. So in turn, lets look at each of these.
Gorilla marketing is rife during world sporting events and the Lenovo campaign has jumped on the bank wagon. The promotion has been tied them to the Olympics with the celebrity endorsement of Libby Trickett. In the same way that the beach soccer world cup was sponsored by Nike and advertised at the soccer world cup (sponsored by Adidas. Lenovo is leveraging Libby's status to gain Olympic reputability. Is it effective?
Well, it is a hard thing to quantify, but companies that sponsor athletes like Tiger Woods swear that it adds to the bottom line, and in this case, it does add a certain level of legitimacy to their advertising between Olympic events on channel 7.
The advertisements themselves position the Lenovo product as highly reliable, water & shock proof, differentiating it from many cheaper brands. Market leaders Dell are losing ground at the moment due largely to their terribly image of unreliable and constantly breaking. Contrasting this, Apple have been making a big inroads into the market by positioning themselves as crash proof, better than a PC, just proving that it is a major consumer concern. In this way, the product composition and positioning strategy plays a huge role in convincing consumers to trial Lenovo and actively moves the brand to the front of their minds.
Finally, when consumers have entered the final stages of the buyer decision process their is a typical 'pull strategy' sales promotion. If you buy a Lenovo computer during the Olympics, you receive with a $150 fuel card or an external hard drive completely free. It is an oldie but a goodie. Adding that little bit of value through a call to action sales technique makes consumers rush the decision and buy now while they can still get the 'deal'.
Josh Strawczynski's Opinion
I'll be honest, when I saw the television ad, the first thing I though of was that I would like to find out more about the product. For my mind, the use of Libby Trickett is a waste of money, but that is only my opinion. Altogether, Lenovo has put together a well integrated campaign that targets consumers throughout the buyer decision process.
Sam Berringer's Opinion
I'm not sure what the return on invest would be like from this campaign. We are assuming that customers are going to trial the product and build up a brand loyalty are we not? Best I can tell, computers are not a real brand loyal sector, instead you tend to have a range of brand reliable choices. Consumers in my mind will always be swayed by the best deal, this is because they know technology is constantly changing and market leaders rarely have a sustainable competitive advantage.
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